Professional 2018

First Place: Angin Varosyan, Vanadzor

Write about your worst hello and your favorite goodbye.

Hello world, hello my morning, hello my family, hello my kids, hello my pupils, hello my job, hello my day, hello my friends. Hello...The first word you’re going to pronounce after getting up from a well-slept or a sleepless night. The first word you’re going to pronounce with a hearty smile, with love, with kindness, with hopes and with bright expectations. It’s a word that you’re ready to pronounce hundreds of times without getting tired of it. It’s one of the unique words that you pronounce with great pleasure again and again. But it’s a word that you don’t want to pronounce to him: to the shadow standing there. You know that every day the minute will come and you’ll have to pronounce that word to the shadow standing there like a statue. You don’t want say hello but you have to. And pronouncing that hello is the worst hello of my day. I’m ashamed to confess it but it’s like passing acrross a dirty river when the minute comes and I have to say hello to him. …Goodbye world, goodbye my day, goodbye my family, goodbye my kids, goodbye my pupils, goodbye my job...Goodbye… It’s the last word that I pronounce during my day and get ready to meet my either well-slept or sleepless night. It’s the word that I pronounce hundreds of times a day, with a smile, of course, but not with a happy one. I pronounce it with sadness, being sorry that I have to say it to my dear, to my beloved ones, to my meaningful affairs, but I pronounce it again with hopes and great expectations for the coming morning and the meaningful chain of coming deals...From time to time I pronounce the word “goodbye” with pain realising that I’ll not be able to say hello to them for a long period of time...But… There is a goodbye in my life that I pronounce with great pleasure, with a light sigh, with a hearty smile. It’s the goodbye I tell her, knowing that I’ll be in peace for a certain period of time, I’ll live without cheap conflicts for some time. So it’s my best goodbye. He and she make my life a bit difficult but there are such he-s and she-s in everyone’s life. Let’s remember that there are much more he-s and she-s in our life that make us happy and what’s the most important thing in life: let’s try to be such a he or such a she that people will not face a difficulty to say us “hello” and they won’t get pleasure to say us “goodbye”.

Second Place: Mane Mehrabian, Vanadzor

Imagine you are someone’s shadow for one day. Who’s shadow would you be and why? What would you do?​

Be yourself no matter what they say! Indubitably, we are all born equal, but during our lifetime we do choose the things we do and like to do. I have always been of the opinion that the ordinary needs extraordinary. It I happen to be someone’s shadow, actually I’ll prefer to be my own shadow. :) First and foremost, I will definitely follow my behavior from another angle. I’ll analyze and overlook the way my mind works and my body acts. And if so, if I notice something awkward or bad, I’ll have a serious and honest conversation with my “self” :)) I’ll give pieces of advice to my humble self. “Hey you, listen to me carefully. I got voice and I have the magic power to talk to you! I am your shadow. I am the most faithful friend of yours. Bear in my mind, and take any single word for granted, as I have only a one-day-life. Jettison life’s “useless baggage”, live life to the fullest, never let fear overcontrol your actions. Believe in yourself. Are you listening to me? Look straight at my eyes! Why are you afraid of taking the next step? Hmmm, this is my calling, to help you today, to back up and support you to become a better person. After that I’ll encourage my “real” self to take the next steps no matter that the whole staircase is invisible, to try new things and be open to every single particle of our universe. Second, I’ll ask my “self” to make friends with me. I’ll explain “her” that if she loves her. if she is self-compassionate, she will also love me: the shadow, the nothing, (as she used to think before) provides a powerful tool for emotional resilience. Eh, not once I happened to make my real “self” understand that I am her genuine reflection, that I am the most loyal friend, that I am with her when she confronts with personal failings. To sum up, it would be a great life lesson for her. Let her know that shadows, if given a chance, can change things for better. And IF I could change her life, it means that life is itself a miracle. We should take time and enjoy life, and never forget that our shadows are those very sturdy shelters which are treasures, the true friends.

Third Place: Gayane Ohayan, Goris

Write about your worst hello and your favorite goodbye.

May 30, 1998… If feels so uneasy, the light is so bright, can’t open my eyes… I have once, but somebody was staring at me with a smile...she looked so familiar, don’t know why… Still can’t understand what made me stick my head into that dark, tight tunnel, but having done so I had to get out of there...my body hurts… Something covers my body, don’t really understand what it is but feels warm… Yeah,... Something has definitely changed, not sure what yet but it certainly has… It’s rather strange but I don’t even know who I am… I can feel that’s going to be tough to figure that out… “Who am I?”. But I like the lady beside me… I remember the calming music when I was inside her. Shall I say “hello?”, but how? Need to learn to speak… I baby was born….. Millions are…every day… We are born but unfortunately none of us is born conscieniously…. A matter of existence… None of us knows why we’ve come to this world, but we have a whole life to explore and to find that out and maybe that’s the beauty and mystery of life...be sure each of us has come with a tremendously important purpose into this life… i’m only sorry for not feeling that purpose from the very start, so that I could have smiled back to the beautiful lady. I was lying by And said to her “Hello, my Mummy!”. So I guess that was my worst “hello” So now to make for that “worst hello” ever since my life has become conscious I start my day with the “best hello” ever possible and pave my day towards “MY FAVOURITE Goodbye”. “Carpe diam!” “Sieze the day!” I do… Every day is Blood, Tears, and Toil… And the beauty is always in the eye of the beholder! People strive to be remembered, yes, everybody does,..that’s a matter of existance...we constantly stick our heads into different tunnels to find ways out, just like the very first day...painters create masterpieces to leave something after themselves, others raise children, some others kill to remembered, everybody, choose a way, an attitude towards life….the important thing is whether we come out as losers or winners out of the “tunnel” of our enterprise… Winning and losing is different for different people. My way to be remembered is changing the world around to the better… I tell you give a smile, a good deed out, and you’ll get thousands back … I love life,.. Everything is love around us... we do what we love, wear, eat, listen to what love… I love giving love… I live every moment as if the last one on my way to the “Goodbye!” I hope it will be my “favourite” one…, feeling pride for myself in my parents’ sparkling eye, feeling love and care in my son’s… Once I felt sorry for the worst “Hello!”, please, God, let me have a “favourite Goodbye!”